


A Good Man

by mansikka



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Future Fic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: For more than three years now, this trip to the park with Buck has been one of the highlights of Hen's week...
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson
Comments: 21
Kudos: 139





	A Good Man

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I needed some Buck and Hen friendship... that's what this is supposed to be!

For more than three years now, this trip to the park with Buck has been one of the highlights of Hen's week. They always take the same route along the winding paths of the park, stopping for coffee or ice cream from their favorite cafe depending on the weather. They are always sidetracked on their walk; for puppies, and toddlers, and one memorable incident for Hen involving an out-of-control bike. Buck leaping in front of her and grabbing the handlebars bringing him face to face with the terrified-looking bike rider is an image Hen still finds herself smiling about even after so much time has passed.

This park visit is a moment just for them, one she had originally suggested when Buck was new to the 118, and Hen was hit with the incredible urge to take the cocky though kind-hearted guy Buck used to be under her wing. He has been by her side ever since, through difficulties with Karen, her mistake with Eva, and all of the high and low points of her life in recent years. In turn, Hen has taken pleasure in watching Buck grow as a person, celebrating him finding things he likes doing for himself outside of work, and learning he is deserving of having friends.

Buck is still kind-hearted, and has long been one of Hen's favorite people to be around, though that cockiness has faded over the years to be replaced with a quiet kind of confidence. He is generous, and thoughtful, almost always guessing what any of the extended family that the 118 is needs before they even know it themselves. Hen loves all versions of Buck, though this current one is definitely a favorite; there is something really special to be around a Buck who is deeply in love.

"So. Where is he taking you on this anniversary?" Hen asks as they make their way around the edge of a duck pond, trying to eat their ice cream quickly for the heat of the overhead sun.

"It's a surprise," Buck says, grinning even as he chases the ice cream threatening to drip from his cone. "I don't know yet. He just told me to pack."

"He tell you _what_ to pack?"

"Just a couple of changes of clothes."

"Clothes?" Hen asks, handing him extra napkins that she tucked into her back pocket for knowing the mess they would both make. "Or _clothes_ clothes?"

"What, like, _going out to dinner_ clothes?"

"Any clothes you want, Buck," she replies in tease, laughing behind her rapidly-melting ice cream as Buck pictures whatever is in his thoughts that is making him flush so furiously. It is a rare sight that Hen has only seen a handful of times; each of them involving _Eddie_. Sometimes, when she and Chim are bored at the firehouse, they take it in turns to see if they can make Buck flustered just to see it again_._

"All I know, is that he's being really secretive about it."

Hen thinks she knows what that means. She has always had good instincts about this kind of thing. "Maybe he's proposing."

Buck's face lights up in delight before he can get it under control, lapping over ice cream in an attempt, Hen thinks, to avoid having to talk.

"What if he did?" she asks, monitoring Buck's expression.

"He won't. Not yet. We've not been together that long."

"A year," Hen points out, "which is the whole reason you're having this dirty weekend away."

"It is _not_—"

"Oh, please. Eddie's booked you some secret location where he'll be wining and dining you alone. He won't tell you where, or what you're doing, only to pack some clothes? Please. _Dirt_ is absolutely on the cards here. And proposal is definitely a possibility."

Hen thinks marriage has been an inevitability for Buck and Eddie since about a week after they met. Buck's initial hostility towards Eddie had disappeared within hours, and even before they realized they were a couple, Eddie and Buck had been joined at the hip. Looking back, it is one of the most hilarious stories Hen thinks she has ever been witness to in her life. To watch Eddie and Buck's natural affection for each other, and the two of them being the last to know they were in love was like having her very own soap opera on tap. A good one, with good people that she knows and loves, and couldn't be happier for.

"You really think so?" Buck asks with that soft doubtful kind of hope that will forever make Hen's heart melt. Buck's certainty that he deserves happiness has been a slow-growing thing, brought to life more fully in the presence of Eddie, whose permanent heart-eyes follow him everywhere. 

"Well. You're already talking about moving in together," Hen points out, sure they'll be hearing about a house they're buying within the year.

"Because Eddie has, like zero closet space. And Christopher deserves a bigger bedroom. And a backyard where Harry and Denny can come over, and we can set up a play area for Nia—"

"And for when you give Christopher a sibling," Hen adds, because she has to, for watching Buck lose control of his face yet again.

"You trying to get me married off and becoming a father before the week's out?" Buck asks, knocking his arm against hers.

"Buck. You're already a father. Christopher adores you."

Okay, this might be her favorite of Buck's faces, Hen thinks, the one that is humbled and stunned and so very excited it is impossible not to grin back at him. Eddie loves this particular expression on him too; Hen sees Eddie smiling at it often enough. Though Eddie has pretty much always looked at Buck like he hung the whole sky, so, really, is it possible to tell the difference between any of his looks for him?

"Well. There is no guarantee that he _is_ asking," Buck says, which tells Hen two things. One, marriage has already been a subject of discussion between them, and two, Eddie will barely get his proposal out before Buck is saying yes, whenever he gets to doing it.

"No, but he will. Or you'll be too impatient to wait and will do it yourself."

That Buck only shrugs confirms her suspicions. It will be impossible working with the two of them if they come back engaged, just for how happy everyone will be to see _them_ happy.

"Hey, did you get that book for Karen?" Buck says then, and it is Hen's turn to be excited. Karen loves real books, actual books, only reading digital copies when she has to, while letting everyone around her know what she thinks about them not being proper books. Buck had mentioned a series he'd heard about that he thought Karen would like, Hen had bought her the first in the series on a whim, and then had to buy the next three for how quickly Karen worked through them. It was Buck who reminded her the latest in the series was out. Hen had picked up a copy on the way home from their last shift along with Karen's favorite wine and the chocolates she insists is all part of the reading experience.

"Get it? She practically kicked me out of the house to come here so she could finish it in peace," Hen replies, smiling for the memory of Karen first kissing her sweetly and then shooing her from the door.

"I guess it's good? What she wanted to have happen in the story, anyway?"

"I'm pretty sure I heard her cheering at one of the characters through the open window when I was halfway up the drive." Her wife is a _nerd_; Hen wouldn't have it any other way.

"So, when we get back, you should all come over," Buck says then changing the subject, protectively steering Hen away from a guy learning to skateboard flapping his arms as he tries to keep his balance. "We're getting Christopher this Lego space colony thing; I'm sure he and Denny could get it put together in no time."

"Are you buying guilt gifts for leaving Christopher while you're away?" Hen teases; how does Buck not already know he is a parent if he understands the necessity of guilt gifts?

"Yes, we are," Buck agrees, wiping his mouth on a final napkin before tossing it into the nearest trashcan. He takes the bottle of water he has tucked under his arm for them to wash their hands with since they are both sticky.

"When I had two extra shifts last month, meaning we had to cancel something we'd planned with Denny, we bought this sticker book thing he'd been talking about forever to compensate. _Huge_ mistake; we're now buying stickers for the thing every other week. Anything he can't use in the book is getting stuck all over the house."

"Christopher made us new pictures for our lockers that were covered in stickers," Buck says with pride as they continue to walk. The insides of Buck's and Eddie's lockers are filled with Christopher's artwork. Hen is sure they must rotate the pictures in there every week.

"We've found spare stickers in the bathroom, in our closet; even in the kitchen cupboard where we keep snacks. I don't even want to know how he climbed up on the side to get to it," Hen adds, shuddering for the reminder.

"Christopher tried to sneak some of those cookies Bobby made," Buck tells her, groaning and hanging his head. "We kept them in a Tupperware box on top of the fridge."

"What happened?"

"Well. We had bird food for a couple of days. Every cookie broke into crumbs, so we just threw them out. Now, Christopher keeps asking what birds there are in the yard and if we can buy them more food; I'm gonna need to look some birds up. I don't think I know all that many."

"You taking up bird spotting?"

"I just don't want to be telling Christopher every bird that comes into the yard is a pigeon. Though did you know that there are two different species of pigeon in California? And eight species of dove?"

Hen steers Buck along the path away from the duck pond smiling as Buck continues his excited chattering about birds. She can already picture the fond exasperation on Eddie's face for hearing about his research later, and how Buck will probably buy bird food on the way home just to make Christopher smile. Buck is a good man, one she is so proud to call her friend, and one whose happiness she couldn't be more excited about. She tucks her arm through Buck's as they continue their walk, listening and nodding in all the right places, relishing in how good it feels to see how content in life Buck is.


End file.
